Charmed, I'm Sure

One last detail before I launch into my pre-wedding parties. I've got to recap my bridal shower, bachelorette party, rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, and of course, both my weddings. But before that... Charms!

I got my bee charms in the mail from Mrs. Seal. She sent them to me in December. I was not as punctual getting my charms to Miss Warbler (I'm Sorry!). I opened the package with delight.

Personal Photo: A sweet note from one bride to another.

Personal Photo: My bees peeking through their gauzy bag.

But there were other charms too! Following the lead of other bees before me, I went to Etsy and asked a seller to make a Kettle especially for me. Sweet and Savory Trinkets saved the day.

Making a kettle in miniature version is no small task. Apparently, the handle gave her some trouble, but she managed it. Finding a hardworking seller who will try their darndest to get you exactly what you want is apparently commonplace on Etsy. If you're looking for another route to what you want outside a physical store, I highly recommend Etsy.

After I sent her a pic of my moniker for Weddingbee, she sent me back a picture of the charm she'd created. It was perfection. I purchased it and an additional charm for one of my bridesmaids, BM Law, who loves red velvet cake.

Personal Photo: A perfect kettle!

Personal Photo: a sweet red velvet cupcake!

Doing The D-I-Y: Flower Girl Baskets

After finally finishing the ring bearer pillows, I wanted to get the matching flower girl baskets done. I scoured for the perfect baskets, purchased them, and then watched them on my kitchen counter for months before I finally found the motivation to decorate them.

Personal Photo: searching through what felt like endless options.

Personal Photo: Narrowing it down and moving baskets around to get a group shot of my options.

Personal Photo: Making a selection!

Personal Photo: Loading up all the supplies. Feeling overwhelmed.

My glue gun and I got real friendly that night I finally got it together. I took me a couple hours, but it was worth it. And now for a montage. Everybody likes a montage. Even Rocky had a montage! (Anyone get that reference? America! F*#k yeah? Moving on)
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Personal Photo: Step 1) Gather your supplies. In my case, it was just the matching ribbons from the ring bearer pillows and my trusty glue gun. Make sure you have plenty of glue sticks on hand.

Personal Photo: Step 2) Cut tulle and glue to bottom of basket. In the photograph, you could see where it was doubled up, but in real life, it looked uniform. Don't use too much glue here, or your fingers will be burned when you press down the tulle into the glue.

Personal Photo: Step 3) Glue ribbon along edge of basket. First, I glue the edge closest to the rim. Then I went back along the bottom edge and glued it into the nooks and crannies so the ribbon hugged all the curves of the basket. Otherwise, the ribbon's end will stick out and will look the opposite of neat.

Personal Photo: Step 3) I wound ribbon around the basket handle to create a criss-crossing look. Do this with as many different ribbons as you'd like. Make sure you leave a length of ribbon on either end if you want to have hanging ribbon from the basket.

Personal Photo: Step 4) Wind end of ribbon around the rim of the basket. This only works if the weaving of the basket winds like the ribbon. cut the ends hanging from either side so they are even. Go back over the ribbon and glue down the parts that the eye won't see to secure the ribbon.

Personal Photo: These are bits of ribbon I cut into short pieces to make a decoration on the basket.

Personal Photo: Step 5) Glue cut pieces together at angles to look like flower petals. Start with a simple cross, then add other pieces at 45 degree angles. Be liberal with the glue gun because you don't want to have to repeat any of these little pieces.

Personal Photo: Step 6) Attach your "flower" to the side of the basket. I put one on each side of each basket. That was a lot of little pieces to glue. A lot of pieces. Also, at this point, you can trim the hanging ribbon into a shape if you'd like.

Personal Photo: Step 7) Admire your work.

Personal Photo: Here are the baskets with the pillows. They ended up matching perfectly!



Wedding Image showing flower girl baskets in action



Raise Your Glass

One of my favorite details from the wedding was our set we purchased from Things Remembered. My mother and I headed over there to pick out champagne flutes and ended up buying a whole set.

There were champagne glasses, cake cutters, picture frames, and a Christmas tree ornament in the set. It was the Christmas tree ornament that really sold me because I love Christmas. I look forward to decorating our first tree as a married couple and getting that ornament out.

Because of our purchase, we got our monogram made for free. We slapped that monogram on everything! It appeared on our STDs, on our wedding day, and especially etched onto all our purchased items. See for yourself!

Image via Things Remembered with a sample monogram

Wedding Image showing our wedding program featuring our monogram.

Wedding Image showing our monogram on our sweetheart table at the reception.

Wedding Image showing our champagne flutes with our monogram.

Wedding Image showing us toasting with our champagne flutes!

Unveiling The Veil

Before I get into the recaps, I still have to finish the rest of my pre-wedding posts I didn't get to. First up is to talk about my veil. I found a veil I loved that perfectly matched my dress at the dress shop. Unfortunately, this lovely perfect veil was ~$300. That didn't work for me. That much money for 1.5 yards of fabric glued to a comb? Um, hell no.

We thought about ordering extra fabric from the designer and having the veil made. The store offered to do it for $275. Solution fail. I sat on it for a while. I read post after post on the Weddingbee blog and boards and then it hit me. "Stop acting like you don't have other ways to fix this problem crazy lady"

I turned to Etsy. I checked out really affordable veils by several Etsy stores I loved. I sent custom item requests to two sellers who's stuff looked very much like the veil I loved and in a price range I really loved.

Image: Forget-me-not 30x36 wedding veil by Etsy seller simplebeautyveils

Image: 2 Tier Fingertip Bridal Wedding Veil by Etsy seller BellaBridalVeils

I knew I couldn't care less if the actual veil was the exact, expensive but oh-so-soft, material of the dress skirt. I just wanted the color and a comparable material. After I sent the messages, I waited with bated breath for a response that would make me happy. I thought about messaging more sellers. But y'all know how I roll, hive. I see something I like and then I go with that, not looking at more than 2 options if I can help it before I make a decision.

But these first sellers didn't respond to my private messages, so I moved on. I found Joyous Illusions. This woman responded quickly and often to me. She messaged me back and forth well over 10 times.

She sent me samples, in the mail, of what veil options I had based on what I described I wanted.

Personal Photo: only a handful of the sample options she sent me.

After I finally made my decisions, she made a beautiful veil for me and sent me the pictures.

Picture from Joyous Illusions

Picture from Joyous Illusions

Picture from Joyous Illusions / Detail shot of the Swarovski Crystal appliques

I hopped over to my private Etsy listing and bought my veil. She shipped it to me immediately. I was so happy to have taken care of a detail that haunted me for months, and I was really glad I didn't have to pay $300 for a veil.

Mr. Kettle and I posing before our ceremony.

Bands On Our Hands

Alternate post title: He went to Jared! Again!

I love my engagement ring, and I've never regretted the choice for such a unique ring. There's only one issue: I want to wear my engagement right and wedding band on the same finger, and I didn't want a gap between the rings.

Ms. Fox wrote a post that perfectly describes my problem.And to show my version of these issues, some ring porn.

Personal image: My ring hanging out with my new natural long nails!

Personal image: My ring being all shiny and distracting from my skin (not a fan of my hands)

 Personal image: I got all artistic with these shots at one of Mr. Kettle's last outdoor gigs. I can't wait for next summer already!



Personal image: My ring hanging out at a club. That girl likes to have fun (the wall behind her was advertising Absinthe!).

Now that I've shown you the ring, perhaps you can understand my dilemma. But when I saw Ms. Fox's post, I was so happy. She's the first person to ever talk of a ring with criss-crossed bands.

I admit I had my head in the sand about wedding bands. I didn't want to face the inevitable contoured band that we'd have to pay to get made since the ring was made. But a light emerged and I shook off the sand and headed to Jared's website where I figured we'd purchase our rings from.

Image via Jared

 They didn't seem to have a lot of options, but I didn't give up hope as they always have a larger selection in store. Mr. Kettle and I stopped through one productive weekend and tried on bands. I found several bands that were perfect.

They criss-crossed once, twice, even three times. So many diamonds. They were so shiny! They were actually a bit too shiny. They just didn't really look right. Mr. Kettle and I aren't shiny people. Unless you count carmex for him and occasional glitter eye shadow for me.

We took a break from looking at my rings to look for his. He tried on a band with diamonds and confirmed we are NOT shiny people. He ended trying to decide between two bands. He was going to pick one that matched one of my earlier rings options, but I could tell he wasn't happy about the choice.

When I mentioned it was too bad the one detail (black bands on the ring) couldn't be matched in my ring, the jeweler took us to another case. It was like that list bit of sand still left over keeping from imagining other options finally shook off. I saw the perfect ring and it matched his perfectly!

Mr. Kettle and I are shiny people, but we are unique-twist-on-a-classic look people. So, after much talking, here are our wedding bands!

Personal image: They wrapped them up pretty for us to take home!

Personal image: Our individually boxed rings.

Personal image: Okay, now I'm just being a tease.

Personal image: Our rings!!! Black and white diamonds in white gold for me and black banded white gold for him.

Personal image: Just his ring getting a solo shot.

Personal image: Just my ring.

Personal image: My two rings together. As Stacy London would say, "it doesn't have to match, but it goes."

Personal image: The two rings together. There's still a gap, but it's a gap with attitude!

How did you pick your wedding bands? Are you wearing your engagement and wedding rings on the same finger?